Andrew Blake

Xi Jinping calls for cyber dialogue between China, U.S. as sanctions talk looms

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he's ready to discuss cybersecurity concerns raised by American officials amid reports that the White House is weighing whether to impose sanctions in response to data breaches blamed on China.

September 23, 2015

R.T. Jones investment firm settles SEC violations for $75K after data breach

The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a deal with an investment advisory firm accused of failing to properly protect the personal information of around 100,000 individuals whose data was accessed by hackers.

September 23, 2015

Hate crime probe halted at University of Delaware after ‘nooses’ turn out to be old decorations

The investigation of a purported hate crime at the University of Delaware has ended after authorities admitted to mistaking leftover decorations that were draped from a tree as makeshift nooses.

September 23, 2015

Abu Bakr al Turkmani and David Drugeon, ISIS and al Qaeda operatives, killed by airstrikes

Airstrikes have eliminated a senior figure within the Islamic State group and an explosives expert with links to al Qaeda, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.

September 23, 2015

Senate committee drops ‘terrorist activity’ reporting requirement from intel bill

Facebook, Twitter and other Internet sites no longer risk being forced to alert authorities of "terrorist activity" from account holders following a Senate committee's decision this week to drop a provision from next year's Intelligence Authorization Bill.

September 22, 2015

ACLU urges Congress to thwart spies by embracing encryption

Digital encryption enables whistleblowers, terrorists and everyone in-between to communicate securely and without leaving much of a trace. Now with national security potentially on the line, privacy advocates are imploring lawmakers in Congress to embrace encryption as well.

September 22, 2015

Facebook accounts targeted by scammers offering fake ‘dislike’ button

Facebook fanatics are being told to steer clear of a scam that capitalizes on CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement that a "dislike" button is in the works.

September 22, 2015

iOS hackers offered $1 million to crack Apple’s newest operating system

Apple's newest mobile operating system has only been available for a few days, but hackers are already being offered a hefty sum in exchange for finding a way to break it

September 22, 2015

Feds seek ‘front door’ access to encrypted data as ‘going dark’ solutions turn slim

Fallout from recent hacks have given the tech industry good reason to believe Americans want assurance their data is secure. But absent a solution to the government's "going dark" dilemma, federal attorneys say Silicon Valley engineers might have to meet them halfway when it comes to encryption.

September 21, 2015

Kim Dotcom, Megaupload colleagues appear in court to face extradition case

Extradition proceedings have finally begun for Kim Dotcom, the supposed cybercriminal at the center of the U.S. government's largest-ever online piracy case, but it could be weeks before a New Zealand judge decides whether to send the case stateside.

September 21, 2015

Russia begins spy drone missions over Syria: reports

Russia has begun aerial surveillance missions over war-torn Syria, U.S. officials said Monday, signaling the start of Moscow's military operations in Syrian airspace.

September 21, 2015

Campaign websites for 2016 hopefuls largely fail privacy test: study

As presidential hopefuls pull out all the stops to earn the trust of American voters, a new study suggests that the official campaign websites for most of the candidates are ripe with "troubling privacy practices" that place user data at risk.

September 18, 2015

Russian aircraft arrive in Syria, Pentagon says

Russia has begun moving military aircraft into war-torn Syria, defense officials claim, raising concerns Moscow may imminently launch strikes to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

September 18, 2015

Borgata casino can regulate employee weight, N.J. appeals court rules

The Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City can legally regulate the weight of its employees, a New Jersey appeals court ruled this week.

September 18, 2015

Police dogs barred from crowd-control duty in St. Louis following review of Ferguson protests

Canines will no longer be used for crowd control in St. Louis County after a federal investigation concluded that the policy proved to be "inappropriate and ineffective" when used on protesters last year in Ferguson, Missouri.

September 17, 2015

John Connors, 42-year police officer in N.H., resigns to free himself from gag order

John Connors, a 42-year veteran of the Portsmouth Police in eastern New Hampshire, has resigned from his job in the face of a gag-order that has prevented him up until now from discussing alleged misconduct within the force.

September 17, 2015

Russia behind cyberespionage campaign dating back to 2008: report

Cyberespionage attacks waged against U.S. and Western targets since at least 2008 have now been attributed by security researchers to hackers believed to be backed by the Russian government.

September 17, 2015

Omar Mohammed Khalif, Gitmo detainee accused of al Qaeda link, cleared for release

Omar Mohammed Khalif, a Libyan national who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for 13 years, has been cleared for release.

September 16, 2015

Twitter accused of eavesdropping on users in proposed class-action

Twitter is being taken to court by an account holder who says the social networking service "surreptitiously eavesdrops" on supposedly private messages sent between users.

September 16, 2015

Mike Halstead, Surf City police chief, retires after labeling Black Lives Matter a ‘terrorist group’

Mike Halstead, a 35-year veteran of law enforcement, has retired from his role as chief of police for Surf City, North Carolina, less than two weeks after calling the Black Lives Matter movement "an American-born terrorist group."

September 16, 2015